Aaron's eyes stared into the darkness of his own imagination, watching the same nightmare play out again.
It had felt like hours, each moment a blinding rush of frost that soaked into his very bones, chilling his heart.
The humanoid man whom he had witnessed before simply observed him like a researcher watching a new species.
His eyes were a familiar white while his mere presence sapped the humanity straight out of the boy's body.
Long strands of hair that were adorned with sharp icicles that hung like spikes reflected the man's frost-ridden breath throughout the void.
Ever since the sky had opened into the magnificent spectacle, Aaron hadn't awoken from this nightmare, not for food, not for water, nor for the bathroom.
He was trapped within this mind realm, forced to freeze forever as the sound of crackling ice worked away at his sanity.
The blond boy's skin was repeatedly turned to ice, blood frozen like rock, and hair falling out in matted bits like snow.
Unlike usual, however, he felt something strange inside his chest, a tight, almost residual feeling that broke his concentration.
Again… Again… How many times do I have to watch this…
Rolling his eyes and sighing, he decided that enough was enough; he would try to prevent his impending fate.
Taking a defiant step forward, breaking out of a thin shell of frost, he felt an immense wave of pressure converge atop his head.
His legs nearly snapped as he was forced to his knees, watching the man across from him furrow his whitish-blue eyebrows slowly.
H-Huh? He actually did something?
The feeling of a thousand needles digging into his skin pulsated through his body; however, pushing through the pain, he leaned forward.
Aaron's body was instantly shot down towards the floor, another wave of force driving him into an even deeper kneel.
Ahead of him, the bluish-haired man curled his lip, curiosity evidently spreading across his face.
His indignant and rude behavior infuriated the boy, who struggled under his own body weight, fighting with every ounce of strength he had.
T-This is nothing… nothing compared to… the Old Man's…
Breaking free for a brief moment, he felt his throat open, allowing him to take a deep breath in, opening his mouth wide.
For the first time, out of all his dreams of this place, the blond-haired boy finally raised the courage in his heart to speak.
"Ugly bastard…"
The words hung for a moment in the air, echoing throughout the space awkwardly, repeating again and again like a loop.
His tongue burned, refusing to move again, like the void itself was suppressing it.
Aaron's ears turned bright red, warm blood rushing into his face, allowing him to break away from the eternal shivers.
His sentence, however, wasn't one uttered in solidarity, but instead, spoken towards a man who just stared at him, blinking repeatedly.
W-Wait… I d-didn't mean…
The boy's heart instantly stopped, his entire face hardening while turning a ghastly purple as the sound of heavy metal chains rattled through the void.
Blood dripped from the edges of his mouth, instantly freezing on his trembling lips as footsteps resonated through the room.
Barely able to even turn his head, he felt an immense force shoot from his brain, one of warning, one of absolute despair.
It was something he had felt twice before, when he first met the Old Man in the mirror, and the second, this very day, facing that thing towering over the Abyss.
Every nerve and fiber of his body resisted his actions, forcing him to gaze at his own feet as the man approached slowly.
A feeling of endless frost crept down his spine, ceasing all movement from the boy as the powerful man stopped in front of him.
"..."
There were no words uttered from that presence's mouth, only whispers that dripped with malice and resentment.
Aaron's face was white with absolute terror as a cold finger brushed up and down his face, inspecting each detail.
Forcing his eyes closed as his head was tipped upward, he suppressed the urge to glance at the man's face, trusting his body's request.
Behind his eyelids, he could feel reality itself shifting and waning, adjusting to the presence of that thing.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The motion coursed through Aaron's body as the man poked his finger around his figure, from his heart to his core, and finally, his head.
Feeling the man's intentions through his own, he realized in a moment of bone-chilling dread what was about to happen.
W-Wait… Don't…
Then, with a slow caressing of his forehead, the man drove his fist straight through the boy's skull, crushing it to pieces instantly.
The world shattered like glass, his mind collapsing into a thousand pieces of bone as he ceased to exist in this world once again.
…
"HAHH—!"
He shot upright, nearly slamming his head on the ceiling, lungs gasping for all the air he could breathe in.
The room spun, walls bending and twisting like wax.
For a second, he still saw the icy frost creeping up his limbs, lingering on his face—then they were gone.
Aaron's head throbbed with a headache deeper than anything he had ever received before, drilling pain throughout his entire skull.
Moving his hands slowly upward, he rubbed his hair, making sure he wasn't decapitated.
T-Thank the g—
Stopping himself from making an internal prayer to a deity, he looked downward, sighing silently while feeling his bed below him.
How did I get here…
Turning his gaze upward, he noticed a much larger crab than the one he remembered, hopping from one end of the bedroom to another.
His shell clacked against the wood with each bounce, filling the room with the oddly comforting sound of real, warm life.
"Eh?"
Mr. Crab's peg legs had nearly completely vanished; only two remained out of the numerous he sported before the fight.
Wait… I had absorbed the core before I fainted!
Remembering the moments before he lost consciousness, he searched internally for any sign of the object's effect.
Bingo!
Activating something deep within him, he felt his eyes surge with energy, blurring the world for a second.
It was like opening eyes that weren't his own—heat, mana, and the presences of other living beings overlapped like transparent dimensions layered atop reality.
They flashed bright light within before adjusting to the room, picking up on every detail that he could observe.
Hurrying to turn his head upward, his eyes bore through the deck of the Ghostship and into the sky that shone with stars.
That beautiful sight he had witnessed before his nightmare was gone, hidden beneath layers of his own weakness.
It must be a stronger barrier than what I can see through… But wait… If I can see through the deck, that means…
Excitement coursed through his body as he looked ahead, through the once solid doorway, and into a room across the hall.
Another bedroom identical to his own, colored with magenta, appeared before him, the sight of Eleanor's sleeping form startling him.
Is that…
Millions of individual threads warped outward from her body, stretching endlessly into the world, covering her body in a cocoon of mana.
Each was tightly intertwined, twisted, and knotted into webs of energy that held the girl's consciousness away.
T-This must've been what Cam felt around her… No wonder it would need a Sea King to detangle…
Without any sort of command from the boy, the blankets suddenly vanished, revealing the girl's entirely clothed body.
Falling backwards in fear, Aaron felt his heart skip a beat while silently thanking anything he could.
Thank the Kings that this has limits…
For this blond boy's sake, and many others, this strange new ability had one major limitation, one that would hinder him in combat, but spare him from a life of embarrassment.
Anything that touched another living thing's body wouldn't become illusory, allowing clothing, concealing weapons, or skin to stay hidden with the exclusion of mana itself.
Silently groaning and lying back, he cursed himself for even the thought crossing his mind, making him blush red and bury himself in his blankets.
Meanwhile, Mr. Crab continued his hopping, obviously pleased with the world for granting him a larger and stronger form.
With the enthusiasm of a child, the crustacean jumped onto Aaron's back, placing its claws next to his ear.
Snap. Snap.
…
Stepping outside into the moonlight, the boy stared upward at the stars, noting the date quickly with the forecast power he had gained.
I was only out for a few hours…
His body still felt sluggish from the fight; however, the increased mana buff he had received from the Tarasque helped him recover.
In the distance, he watched as the Abyss oozed with threatening gray fog, one he had seen part and reveal something beyond a Sea King.
Note to self… Stay away from the scary gray fog…
Drilling the words into his memory, he lifted his arms above his head, stretching out his tight muscles and groaning lightly.
At his hip, he felt something rub against his skin, irritating the region greatly.
Dammit, what is it now—
Pausing in a moment of realization, he instantly thrust his hands into his shirt, grabbing the map parchment he had hastily stuffed in there.
"Phew…"
Silently thanking the ocean for sparing this mystical paper, he thought it a wise idea to sprawl it out again.
I still have to get a piece of a high-level terror… I know I can't beat one, so I should think of how to take a scale or something…
Rubbing his chin, he unfurled the parchment, watching as the ink gradually filled the page.
The symbol marking the Tarasque had vanished completely, with the Abyss itself still crawling with monsters of varying sizes.
I wish I could've looked at this when that thing was there… I wonder how big it would appear on this map…
Diving into his thoughts, he compared the monster to the Old Man, wondering if the two fought, who would win.
It was a meaningless thought, but something about it gave him an odd sense of enjoyment, pondering a battle.
Penelope said that the geezer has fought gods, and I don't doubt her for a second… He just gives off an aura of—
He stopped, moving his head closer to the edge of the parchment in complete disbelief.
Aaron's eyes blinked repeatedly, double-checking if what he was gazing at was really what existed before him.
I-I can't be this lucky… No… That's too much…
Far in the distance, a symbol matching that of a volcano swam slowly around the sea, randomly vanishing, then appeared again in a different spot.
Each time, however, it moved slightly closer towards the Ghostship and, in turn, Aaron himself.
This size… It could only be one thing…
His heart raced with excitement as a plan began to form in his head, one that would require absolute perfection.
If he messed up a single step, he would certainly meet his end at the jaws of this monster.
Maybe that geezer was right… I really am crazy…
As a grin appeared across his face, he turned away from the map, leaving the ominous slip of paper to flash occasionally with the movement of a certain dot.
This one, however, was the size of his palm.
An Apex terror had appeared in the Sea of Dreams.